Blog posts about creative writing.
I know I have not been writing much recently. And still have my NaNoWriMo novel with the final chapters to do.
I am following Stephen King’s advice. He says they way to learn about writing is to read.
So, I have been reading.
And who have I been reading?
Stephen King of course!
This is the first Stephen King novel I have ever read. Shame on me.
I have posted some comments about this particular book, Bag of Bones, on my Ruthless Reading site.
Jenna Blum gives some great advice about maintaining tension in your writing.
She says:
Never give your reader a chance to go to the bathroom!
For us Brits, who equate bathrooms with bathing, I have translated Jenna’s advice into proper English:
Never give your reader a chance to go to the toilet!
Another Monday, another microfiction prompt from Stony River. Tell a story in 140 characters.
Here is mine.
After she kissed the frog, she realised her fairy godmother had mixed up the spells. The ugly monster was so pleased, she couldn’t tell him.
If, like me, you wrote a novel without any planning – maybe during NaNoWriMo month – and are now wondering whether your new masterpiece is publishable, this article explains why it certainly isn’t.
A Mindset Shift That Can Get You Published is a great article I stumbled upon.
If, like me, you wrote a novel without any planning – maybe during NaNoWriMo month – and are now wondering whether your new masterpiece is publishable, this article explains why it certainly isn’t.
Larry Brooks says:
.. your draft doesn’t stand a chance until the story is solidly, front to back, fully conceived. If you haven’t landed on a theme, a pace, on context and sub-text, if you haven’t discovered what your character arc is, if you don’t know how things are going to end…
And his advice, in a nutshell, is this –
Consider writing as two sequential processes:
1. The search for the story.
2. The rendering of the story.
What excellent advice this is. So, I must treat my NaNoWriMo writing as the search for my story (which it was). Now all I have to do (all!) is render it into a proper novel by rewriting it.
For the rewriting, I will turn to Holly Lisle for help. She shares an excellent article,‘How to Revise a Novel’ on her website.
First of all, I have to finish the damn thing.
Just discovered Adam Maxwell’s Writing Prompts Generator.
Writers are such inventive people, aren’t they?
Ruth Livingstone 